PayPal says that an astonishing 12 million unique users pay to play various Facebook games each and every month of the year.

On one hand, 12 million people out of Facebook's user base of approximately 750 million isn't all that terribly much, representing only 1.6 percent of the total. On the other hand, when 12 million people are coughing up various sums of cash, month in and month out, to play games like FarmVille and Treasure Isle, well, that's not something at which noses should be upturned.

"In massively multiplayer online games, the number of paying gamers keeps going up," said Carey Kolaja, PayPal's senior director of emerging opportunities. "The perception about digital goods is that they lead to micro transactions, which are small. But the average purchase for a paying user is in the mid-20s (in dollars). It is on a positive trajectory."

40 percent of adults play online games and 70 percent of all gamers use PayPal, according to the data released by the company, and there's plenty of growth yet to come. Its recent move to Xbox Live resulted in a "significant jump in transactions," and in-game currency purchases are also on the rise.

Roughly 19 percent of currency purchases in MMOs are under $10, while amounts from $10 to $50 account for 54 percent of purchases and amounts over $50 account for the remaining 27 percent. In social games, sub-$10 purchases make up 33 percent of the market, 58 percent of purchases run between $10 and $50, and nine percent are for amounts in excess of $50. The most popular games among PayPal customers are World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Bejeweled and FarmVille.

eMarketer estimates that the virtual goods market in the U.S. will be worth more than $1 billion in 2011, while the international market is valued at around $6 billion. Something to keep in mind the next time you're tempted to sneer at a Zynga game.

shadowmagus:*insert stock comment about Facebook games being the scourge of gaming. Repeat infinitely.*

There. Works been done for 90% of those going to respond to this.

Facebook Games are the Scourge of.....Oh...

OT: I'm not actually that narrow minded, I don't really care about facebook games that much. I mean, I hate them, I've played them and I think that they're quite possibly the furthest thing you could get from fun but if people want to shill for this crap they can go right ahead. It's just a shame to see all of that wasted potential.

Nah, I'm kidding. I've never understood why people get upset at others for spending their own money.

Kudos to those making the cash.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

Nah, I'm kidding. I've never understood why people get upset at others for spending their own money.

Kudos to those making the cash.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

The company is only responding to the market and that is what the market is dictating. That's how capitalism works. Besides, a "good" game and a "shitty" game is all subjective and up to the user to decide.

Nah, I'm kidding. I've never understood why people get upset at others for spending their own money.

Kudos to those making the cash.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

The company is only responding to the market and that is what the market is dictating. That's how capitalism works. Besides, a "good" game and a "shitty" game is all subjective and up to the user to decide.

It's okay that people like games that you don't.

so you would be totally alright if what we are used to as gaming will be replaced by whatever zynga does if it's better for the bottom line?

why do people always bring up "that's how capitalism works" on these topics? everybody knows how capitalism works, doesn't mean it's unconditionally great.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

The company is only responding to the market and that is what the market is dictating. That's how capitalism works. Besides, a "good" game and a "shitty" game is all subjective and up to the user to decide.

It's okay that people like games that you don't.

so you would be totally alright if what we are used to as gaming will be replaced by whatever zynga does if it's better for the bottom line?

why do people always bring up "that's how capitalism works" on these topics? everybody knows how capitalism works, doesn't mean it's unconditionally great.

Ans it's not unconditionally bad either, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad but it gives people economic freedom so it's worth it.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

The company is only responding to the market and that is what the market is dictating. That's how capitalism works. Besides, a "good" game and a "shitty" game is all subjective and up to the user to decide.

It's okay that people like games that you don't.

so you would be totally alright if what we are used to as gaming will be replaced by whatever zynga does if it's better for the bottom line?

why do people always bring up "that's how capitalism works" on these topics? everybody knows how capitalism works, doesn't mean it's unconditionally great.

I never once said that, nor was I inferring it.

All I was inferring is that what you may consider a bad game, it's very clear there's a large, large number of people that disagree with you or there wouldn't be a market for it. If that's what people want, it's only natural for a company (and the goal of a company is to make money) would cater to that market.

All I was inferring is that what you may consider a bad game, it's very clear there's a large, large number of people that disagree with you or there wouldn't be a market for it. If that's what people want, it's only natural for a company (and the goal of a company is to make money) would cater to that market.

actually it only shows that people are willing to play games if they are eased into it, the stuff is on facebook and everyone has a facebook account because everyone else has a facebook account. It doesn't mean that they think the games are good, it only means they are willing to play at all. If you give somebody an entire library but in order to read anything but the biography of Buzz Killington they have to jump through burning hoops some people will do the jumping but the vast majority will read the book that is easy to access.

Everyone i know who plays games on facebook has never played games on a dedicated platform and most likely never will.

Nah, I'm kidding. I've never understood why people get upset at others for spending their own money.

Kudos to those making the cash.

Opens the door. Xbox charges for online play, now Activision wants in on that. People leave out finished content and charge a premium for it calling DLC, suddenly DLC is planned and in development long before a game's release. Suckers spend, and they qualify this, and that's just one of the many idiotic reasons why we have upcoming auction houses where we'll pay more real money for more virtual crap.

Nah, I'm kidding. I've never understood why people get upset at others for spending their own money.

Kudos to those making the cash.

because it proves that you can make money with shit games, and our favorite activision CEO may just look at this and say:"hey, why are we spending millions on development?" companies don't care if they make good games, they care about their bottom line and if zynga makes tons of money with crap games everyone else will try it, even if they fail the same way everyone tried to make the next WOW.

The company is only responding to the market and that is what the market is dictating. That's how capitalism works. Besides, a "good" game and a "shitty" game is all subjective and up to the user to decide.

It's okay that people like games that you don't.

Exactly. Congratulations to Zynga for comming up with an effective model. I appreciate any and all growth in the market right now. I think too many people freak about the face of games changing just because there is a large untapped market of people who are not into the same type of games, I also feel that this exposes far more people to the vast world of games than the so called "hardcore" gamers do. So what if EA and others see it, it's not like they could become more greedy.

How is it that the most "hardcore" and experienced gamers keep forgetting that EA and others need the support from it's diehard customer base? You'll still get your Mass Effect game, it just might come in about seven parts with optional bits.

Like it or not microtransactions are the future. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing and I certainly don't see it dumbing down or changing gaming in any but a financial sense and the focus may shift to the larger market as always. Yet the games will always be there.

I can't help but think "Heck, why isn't this sustainable?"; there's no real precedent for how mircotransactions and F2P might end up (is there?) - Otherwise it just seems to be screaming "Why aren't you investing in this!" A timeline/growth spread for F2P and it's popularity would paint an interesting picture.

What people express "contempt" with, is the trend this will create, i.e. a stream of very lazy, ultra-casual games devoid of any content at all. Before you know it you'll be paying AAA prices for these "games" based on demand, and you'll see various companies and publishers saying; "Fuck it, why invest anything in proper games when we can lazily shit out this other stuff?"

As long as it stays a separate market, it's fine. I'd say there are two loads to bear on two markets. Call it casual vs. enthusiast, whatever floats your boat. But if casual starts mixing with enthusiast (which it has), well then.. meh.. meh I say.

shadowmagus:*insert stock comment about Facebook games being the scourge of gaming. Repeat infinitely.*

There. Works been done for 90% of those going to respond to this.

Brilliant! Now to dissect how "exteme" or "heated" the theoretical 90% will be.

Well, at least they are spending their own money. It's not like their taking our money. I just wish the underlying games were more deep and more like the high-rated games in the market. I agree that Zynga's business model has brought them a lot of money so, it should be emulated in a sense. What I mean is that parts of it should be changed due to their invasive-ness and whatnot. Maybe in the future, some of the Facebook games can come up... It could be worse though, at least some better FaceBook games are being released albeit at a much lower pace and with lower visibility and publicity.